


Wrapped Around My Finger

by QueenOfBrooklyn



Series: Hockey Dads [3]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: #15, Falconers, First Words, Fluff, Future Fic, Graduation, Habs, Hockey, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Montreal, Parenthood, Stanley Cup, Weddings, dads, daughter - Freeform, how Jack and Bitty become parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-29
Updated: 2016-06-23
Packaged: 2018-06-05 06:58:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6694063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenOfBrooklyn/pseuds/QueenOfBrooklyn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How Eric Richard Bittle and Jack Laurent Zimmermann became parents.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

This is the story about how Eric Richard Bittle and Jack Laurent Zimmerman became parents. 

There's the short version; she was born on May 31st at 11:58 pm, weighing in at 6 pounds 8 ounces. The name Daisy (because Bitty couldn't stand the idea that people would pronounce the French equivalent as the harsh sounding and out dated 'Margret' instead of "Marguerite" the French pronunciation that rolled smoothly off of Jack's tongue) Anne Bittle-Zimmermann (alphabetically, of course) was scrolled onto the birth certificate that both men quickly signed before getting a chance to hold her. Bitty cradled her first, because his husband's hands were still shaking. Jack held Bitty by the waist. They both cried. 

But you're not here for the short version, and for the longer one, we have to go back a couple of years. More specifically, we have to go back to May 2017, when Jack was 27, and Bitty was 22 and graduating from college. Jack was sitting in one of the front rows on River Quad, between his parents and Bittle’s. It was a gorgeous spring day; everything was green and fresh, the sun was shining and warm, and a cool breeze was present ever so often to keep everyone from sweating through their formal wear. You never would have guessed that just a little more than a month ago New England had been hit with a pretty big snow storm, much to Eric’s dismay. But it had all thawed in time for Spring C, and Bitty’s birthday, and graduation, so no one could tell the difference anyway. 

When Eric’s name was called Jack could hear the guys from the Samwell Men’s Hockey Team, both past and present who were near the back of the crowd, hollering like a bunch of barbarians. Still, it made Jack, and Bitty who was walking across the stage to fetch his diploma, smile. The alumni had surprised them last night, after Jack had taken Bitty out for dinner and had come back to the Haus for “Bitty’s last big Kegster” to find Shitty, Ransom, Holster, Lardo, and even Johnson standing in the living room. Shitty had been standing front and center, arms spread wide, so he had actually been hiding the top part of Johnson’s face, but Bitty could recognize that adorable little butt-chin anywhere. 

When the ceremony was over, Bitty strode over to them, embracing his crying mother first, joining her with the waterworks, while Jack raised his DSLR to peer through the view finder and snap a couple of shots. Alicia and Bob shared a couple of words with him too before the former nudge her son. She held her hand out for his camera when he finally looked her way. Jack snapped out of his daze and quickly handed it over before turning to his boyfriend. The blonde had a small smirk on his lips and his eyebrow cocked. Oh, he was going to get chirped, but he couldn’t help it! Jack hadn’t gotten to use his camera this much in a long time seeing as any down time had been pretty much inexistent between the NHL and trying to stay steady with a boyfriend who was in college and also had a busy hockey schedule. 

“Shush,” Jack murmured. He reached a hand up to cup the back of Eric’s neck and placed a brief, yet firm, kiss to his lips, preventing any chirps from coming out of them. “Congratulations,” he smiled, pulling away. 

“Mhmm, thank you Jack,” Bitty smiled, his hands smoothing on the bright blue tie that was resting against the older man’s chest. 

Their little moment was interrupted though, by Bob who was now holding Jack’s camera and who was instructing everyone to get in close so that he could take the picture. Soon enough the hockey team joined in too. 

“Alright,” Suzanne said, probably a little too loud, a wide smile on her lips, a little while later. “We have a reservation. Dicky, why don’t you and Jack go pack up his truck with the rest of your stuff and come meet us at the restaurant?” 

So they said their goodbyes before lacing hands and taking the scenic route past Faber and the majority of campus back to the Haus. Bitty sighed as they trudged up the front steps and he paused on the porch. “I’m gonna miss this place,” he murmured, staring at the front door with a broken hearted expression. 

“Nah, you never really leave it,” Jack chuckles. Two years later and he was still here, he couldn’t imagine that Bitty would ever leave his frogs (all three separate generations of them) and never look back. “Besides, home is where the heart is,” he murmured leaning down to press a kiss to Eric’s temple. 

“Oh, my lord,” Bitty laughed, shaking his head as he finally fished a key from his pocket to unlock the front door. “Who’d have guessed that under all of those hockey layers Jack Zimmermann was a big cheeseball,” he chirped. Jack simply rolled his eyes as they stepped into the Haus. They shrugged off their suit jackets (and Bitty’s gown), rolled up the sleeves to their button ups and started carrying the boxes that hadn’t already been loaded into the Bittles’ rental earlier that day into the bed of Jack’s truck. 

“Just one left,” Jack informed Bitty as he joined him outside a little while later. “I’ll grab it.” Without giving his boyfriend the chance to reply, he left the box he was carrying on the tailgate of the truck and bounded back into the Haus. 

Bitty waited, five, then ten minutes before huffing. What was that boy up to? He trudged into the house, chirping the whole way. “You know, I may have made some changes to the Haus since you lived here Jack, but the floor plan is still the same!” 

His brow furrowed at the sight of his empty room. “Jack?” he called. 

“In here.” 

Bitty glanced over his shoulder, across the hall from where Jack’s voice was coming. The nostalgia made his heart lurch ever so slightly, but he pushed away the feeling and went to Chowder’s room. He and Jack were moving on to bigger and better things than being hall mates. “Did you get lost or are you just being sentimental?” Bitty teased leaning against the door frame. 

Jack stood in the middle of the mostly empty San Jose Sharks themed room; Chowder had only left behind the things that he wouldn’t need at home over the summer. Jack’s bottom lip was caught between his teeth and Bitty could tell by the look in his eyes that something was up. He looked a little nervous, anxious maybe, and definitely determined. Jack took a deep breath but froze. His eyes were trained on Bitty’s face, as though he were trying to memorize the placement of every freckle. His gaze traveled down to the blonde’s broad shoulders, chest, waist, legs, feet, and then back up again. He opened his mouth to try again. The words he’d rehearsed with Shitty were on the tip of his tongue. They were, really, but instead ‘Bitty’ tangled within a soft sigh was all that came out. 

Without saying anything else, he sunk to one knee. There was a sharp intake of breath as Bitty stood up straight and clasped a hand over his mouth. And with that one word, the two syllable name, the five cue cards of speech that Jack had memorized and stuffed into his duffle bag, just in case, were conveyed to the man standing in front of him. 

“Jack?” Bitty asked, his hand falling to his chest. Right. There was more to it. Just to make sure they were both on the same page. Jack fished out the black ring box, opened it, and held it out in front of him. 

“Bitty,” he tried again. “Will you marry me?” 

It didn’t do his hours of work, or Shitty’s coaching, any justice, but at least he’d asked the question this time. He could remember how two years prior he hadn’t even been able to say more than Bitty’s name before practically assaulting him with his mouth. At least this time he used his words. 

“Oh, Jack,” his hands were clasped over his mouth again and he was nodding. “Yes, yes, of course.” 

In the blink of an eye Jack stood from the floor as his tiny baker fiancé collided into his chest. The latter was stood on the tips of his toes, his hands pulling on the back of Jack’s neck to bring him lower, and closer to him. Jack bent his knees a little, helping with the height distance. One of his hands was on the middle of Bitty’s back and the other was still gripping the small, black velour covered box. 

The kiss was eager, and passionate, and desperate. Jack could start to taste the saltiness of Bitty’s tears, giving him a slight sense of déjà vu, before he pulled away. Jack wiped at Bitty’s cheeks with his thumb while Eric’s hands dropped to his chest. 

“I love you,” Jack told him. 

A small giggle bubbled from Eric’s throat. “Oh, Jack, I love you too.” 

“May I?” Jack held up the ring box he was still clutching. Bitty took a deep, deciding breath, squared his shoulders, wiped away his tears and smiled. 

“Yes of course.” He watched attentively as Jack pulled the thin rose-gold ring from between the two plump cushions, reached delicately for Bitty’s left hand, and slid it onto his forth digit. He raised the hand, making sure his blue eyes locked with brown ones as he pressed a gentle kiss to the cool, gold band, letting the milgrain edges dig gently into his lips. 

It made him chuckle softly and glance down at the piece of jewelry. “When I… When I saw it at the store –it was in the window of a shop; I was in Chicago on a roadie, and Caps needed to go to the mall or whatever and I went with him and... I don’t know how or why I ended up in the jewelers, but all I could think of when I saw the ring was that it looked exactly like a pie crust, and it… It made me think of you and how I wanted to give it to you and just… the future? I don’t know… It’s probably ridiculous.” 

“Oh bless your heart,” Bitty leaned up to peck his lips a couple of times. “I think it’s perfect,” he assured Jack, reaching up to tuck a couple of stray hairs away from his forehead. They both watched Bitty’s left hand, the ring glinting under the light of the sun streaming in through the window, as it settled back against Jack’s chest. 

“Oh, gosh, Jack our parents are waiting for us at the restaurant. How late are we?” He quickly tried to dig his phone out of his pocket to check the time. 

“Don’t worry Bits, they’ll probably be expecting us to be late… They knew what I had planned…” Bittle’s eyebrows shot up in surprised. “Well I told my parents, and I asked your parents for their blessing.” 

Bitty’s expression softened, though his brows stayed slightly raised, giving Jack the full on heart-eye look. “Oh lord… I love you,” he announced again, rising on his toes for another kiss. Jack let himself enjoy it, smiling into the kiss until he remembered the fifth person that knew about this. He pulled away a couple of inches before the huff that left his lips washed across the skin of Bitty’s face. 

“Shitty knows too… I couldn’t hide it from him. And by now, there’s no way of knowing how many people he’s told.” Eric simply laughed and gave his fiancé a final kiss. 

“Come on,” he said, lacing his hand with Jack’s. “We have dinner reservations, and I don’t want to show up so late that we get chirped by your father, of all people. Tonight we’ll figure out who knows and who doesn’t.” 

Jack gave his hand a gentle squeeze before letting himself get guided out of the Haus by Bitty. 

Yeah, they were definitely moving on to bigger and better things.

_/ \\_

 _“Jack you beautiful—Jack where the fuck are you?”_ Shitty’s voice sounded from the laptop speakers.

“Hey sorry,” Jack’s head popped up onto Shitty’s screen. “I had to plug the laptop in.” He took a seat on his chair at the desk in his hotel room and smiled at Shitty. It made his old teammate’s eyes narrow in suspicion. 

_“Why do you look like you just got laid?”_ he accused. _“You’re in the Midwest and I know for a fact that your_ boyfriend _couldn’t have surprised you seeing as he has a hockey game on the other side of the country tonight. Did you two have phone sex? Skype sex? Is that why your charge was low?! DEETS ZIMMERMANN. I never thought you’d have it in you!”_

Jack chuckled and rolled his eyes at his friend. “None of that happened,” he replied. 

_“Well then what?”_ Jack chewed on his lower lip, debating if he should spill the beans or not. _Fuck it,_ he thought, and stood up from the desk. 

_“Jack where the hell do you think you’re going?!”_ Shitty called after him as he dug through his bag. The small bag the store had given him was easy to find. He pulled out the soft, velvet box from inside and went to sit back in front of his laptop. He stared at the box for a moment, and then glanced up at Shitty who was looking at him expectantly. With a deep breath, Jack thumbed the box open and held it up so that it was in the camera’s shot. 

Shitty gasped loudly and dramatically. _“Is that what I think it is?! I should be offended! I thought you were saving yourself for me, Zimmermann! Although, if anyone is tying that glorious ass down, it should be Bitty… Damn, I never thought I’d see the day… When are you gonna do it?”_

“I don’t know… honestly I hadn’t realized I wanted to until I saw the ring.” Jack glanced down at it and ran his thumb over the edged surface. “It’s gotta be special…” 

_“You’ll find something. But first; let’s work on what you’re gonna say to him, because hockey plays and chirps about protein will not cut it. Get a pen ready, you’ll wanna take notes….”_

_/ \\_

To: Bittlefamily15@hotmail.com

From: jack.zimmermmann@mail.falconers.com 

Subject: Inquiry 

Hello Mr. & Mrs. Bittle, 

As you are probably aware, I feel deeply for your son, and with your blessing, I would very much like to ask him for his hand in marriage. 

Hope you are doing well. 

Regards,

Jack Zimmermann

Jack quickly pushed send before he could change his mind. He’d been putting this off for a couple days now, since he’d come home, and it had to get done, no matter how much his hands were shaking. The Bittles were supportive of Eric, although he could tell that all of this was a little hard for coach to wrap his head around, but he was handling it fairly well. But still, it was something else entirely for his son to be _marrying_ another man, rather than just dating one. And then there’s the whole possibility that they’re totally okay with Bitty marrying another man, but they just don’t want that man to be Jack…. But Jack wasn’t going to let himself think about that for too long. 

There’s also the matter that the Bittles have jobs; so Jack couldn’t really call during the day, and he couldn’t judge what was too late, or too early to call, not to mention that calling at dinner time was just plain rude. This way he was sure that the message would get to them and that there would be no awkward game of phone tag. 

Just as soon as he logged out of his email account and turned off his laptop, his cellphone rang, over on his nightstand where it had been plugged it. 

He strode over and grabbed it, surprised to see Suzanne Bittle’s contact information pop up on the screen. Surely she hadn’t gotten his message already?

He answered the phone. “Hello?” 

“Oh, Jack,” he could hear it in her voice that she was choked up, she’d probably been crying before phoning him. 

“Suzanne? Is everything alright?” It had taken a while for him to call her by her first name, but she’d finally drilled it into him. 

“Of course everything is fine!” she exclaimed. “Jack, are you really thinking of proposing!?” 

“Of course I am; I wouldn’t send that message as a joke… I’m sorry about that, by the way, I just didn’t know your schedules and what would be an appropriate time to call but…yeah. I, um, I have a ring. I think I’m going to ask him at graduation…” 

He heard Suzanne let out a small squeak from the other end of the line. “Oh honey, you can call whenever, you hear? You’re family.” 

“Okay, sorry,” Jack nods, even though she can’t see him. 

“And honey? Richard and I give you nothing but our full support.” And it feels like Jack can finally breathe, and that a weight has been lifted off his shoulders. 

_/ \\_

The wedding happens the summer of the next year. In June, after the NHL playoffs are all done and before it can get too hot for everyone to be in suits. It’s a small affair, only close family. Although Jack is out, he does prefer to keep his personal life personal. Their vows are short and sweet; Shitty stands next to Jack, and Lardo next to Bitty, as the boys slide rings onto their fingers. Jack’s is quite large; black and silver in colors, made of tungsten so that it’s durable and strong, and Bitty gets a second one, just as thin as the first, but this time it’s yellow gold with a couple of yellow stones, giving off the impression that he now has a halo around his finger. As they kiss the other boys holler, because of course they were invited, the Samwell Men Hockey team is nothing if not their family. 

Their reception takes place outside: there are white chairs, a dance floor, fairy lights, and a large tent that can accommodate everyone, just in case it were to start to rain. They share their first dance; Bitty’s forehead rests on Jack’s collarbone and Jack’s nose is buried in Bitty’s golden hair. Nursey takes pictures with Jack’s DSLR as they sway to Halo. The camera was confiscated from Jack earlier in the evening as he himself had been trying to take pictures of everything, even though they’d hired a professional photographer. Jack had insisted that he wanted to remember the day the way he had seen it. 

Then it was time for cake, and speeches. Shitty insisted he go last, so there they were. Everyone was a little drunk on champagne, or whine, and seated at their respective tables. They were flushed with laughter from some of the other speeches, or with embarrassment, in Jack’s case, seeing as his father was the one who was currently passing the mic to Shits.

Shitty cleared his throat and pulled out a stack of cue cards from inside his jacket. “Hello,” he said into the mic with a smile. “I’m pretty sure at this point everyone knows who I am. I wish I could tell you all that I worked very hard on the speech that I’m about to give, and spent hours pondering which story about these two I could possibly recount, but the truth is I didn’t write this speech. And I’ll gladly admit that, because plagiarism isn’t cool bro, but you know what else isn’t cool? The fact that I spent so long trying to help Jack perfect the speech he would give to Bitty when he proposed, only to find out that when he actually got down on one knee, he didn’t give any of it! And that’s just criminal, because this,” Shitty waved the cue cards around, “is a damn good speech. So, without further ado…” He cleared his throat before turning to the happy couple, glancing at Bitty with a small smile before looking back down at the cardstock in his hand. 

“Bitty” he started, trying to fake Jack’s deeper tone. Instead, he burst into a fit of giggles before starting over, and speaking normally. “Bitty. We’ve known each other for over four years now, and even though we may not have gotten off on the right foot, I would like to think that we’ve come a long way. It’s been a lot of hard work, for the both of us, and I want to express how grateful I am for your patience. Thank you for always being there, with open arms, no matter how stubborn, or closed off I get. Thank you for waiting for me to get my shit together, even though you never should have been forced back into the closet for my sake.”

Bitty reaches over to place a hand on Jack’s knee and squeezes it. Jack glances over to see that his husband is shaking his head, assuring him once again that Jack never forced him to do such a thing; that he chose to keep their relationship a secret, just as much as Jack did, and that he would do it again in a heartbeat if it meant that they would get to where they were today. The corner of Jack’s mouth twitched up into a small smile, he would always feel guilty that it happened and forever grateful that Bitty was so understanding. He leaned back in his chair, slinging an arm casually around the back of Eric’s chair while they listened to the end of Shitty’s speech. 

“And finally, thank you for waiting as long as you did for me to realize that I had feelings for you, even when so many other people saw it before I did. I mean, who knows where we’d be if my dad hadn’t made me realize that for once in my life my heart wanted something other than hockey. My photography teacher was right when she said I associated you with warmth, because Bitty you are the light of my life. Even our coaches saw it, when they told me that you and I are a good team. You make me a better player; a better person, even. So, if you’d let me, I’d like to spend the rest of my days on your team so that we can always have each other’s backs, and so I can always remind you to eat more protein.” Bitty gasped, appalled as he reached over to smack a hand on Jack’s chest. Jack just smiled, quickly grasping the hand and pressing a long kiss to Bitty’s fingers. “A couple of wise men have told me, numerous times over the course of my life, that you miss a hundred percent of the shots you don’t take, so please Bitty, please take a shot on me.” Shitty paused for effect and Jack could see the tears shinning in Bitty’s eyes. “So, to Bitty and Jack; may they never miss any of the shots they take.” 

Their guests didn’t have the time to start clapping, or time to start tapping various kinds of cutlery against their glasses before Bitty leaned forward to press a long kiss to his husband’s lips. When they pulled away, Jack ran his thumb against the skin of Eric’s cheeks, trying to wipe away the few tears that had slid down them. 

“I’m in for a life time of chirps and hockey references aren’t I?” Bitty teased; his voice thick with emotion. 

“I’m sorry; who did you think you were marrying?” Jack shot back with a smirk. “I mean if it’s a deal breaker I know a pretty good lawyer….” 

“Don’t you dare,” Eric gasped, silencing Jack’s nonsense with his lips once more. 

_/ \\_

Jack comes home from practice one day in December of 2018. Bitty’s in the kitchen, probably rearranging the cupboard of pots and pans by the sound of things, so he doesn’t hear Jack come in. He’d left early that morning, before Bitty even woke up, for an early morning practice he had. 

Bits stands up from his crouched position and places his hands on his hips as he mutters something under his breath. Jack gently slips an arm around his waist pressing his mouth to the nape of his husband’s neck. 

“Good lord, Jack!” Eric exclaimed, reaching back to swat Jack’s side. “You can’t just sneak up on me like that.” 

Jack hums against his skin, holding back a chirp about how Bitty would have heard him easily if he hadn’t been making such a racket in here. Instead he says; “Happy six month anniversary,” and produces a bouquet of flowers from behind his back, holding them right under Bitty’s nose. 

“Aren’t you the charmer,” his husband grins, twisting to face Jack after grasping his hand around the stems and cellophane paper. He presses a kiss to Jack’s chin, because that’s as far as he can reach on his tip toes without having Jack lean down. “It’d be an even better anniversary if I could find the damn pastry blender. Have you seen it? Did you put it somewhere?” 

Jack laughs, stepping away and towards the cupboard where he knows their good vase is stored on one of the higher shelves. “The blender is right there…” Jack pointed to the appliance sitting on the counter. It earned him a glare and he has to hold up his hands in surrender. “Then no, I have no idea what you’re looking for or where it is. “ He pries the flowers back from Bits and places them in the vase before adding water to it. Meanwhile Bitty continues searching for his…whatever he called it. Jack places the flowers on the center of their dining room table before he pulls himself up onto the counter, watching Bitty move around the kitchen. 

“How was practice?” Eric asks, pulling open one of the deeper drawers before he starts to empty it onto the floor. 

“Good,” Jack nods. “I actually have something to ask you about that…” 

Bitty pauses, eyebrows furrowed as he glances up at Jack. “Yeah?” He wonders what in the world Jack Laurent Zimmermann could have to ask him in regards to hockey. 

“George told me they’re holding one of those events where they have a bunch of kids come and skate with us. You’d been talking about maybe getting some ice time, and you were a camp counsellor, so you’re good with kids, right? I figured, if you were free, maybe you wanted to join us? It’s Saturday.” 

Bitty spins around, his eyes shining bright. His only reply is “How many people will be there? I need to know how many mini pies I need.” 

Turns out, unfortunately, that it’s too short of a notice to contact the parents of all the kids signed up for Saturday and find out if any of them have dietary restrictions, so Bitty suffices by baking things for the Falconers that will be present and the staff. He’s baked for them enough to know what people can and can’t eat, and what people like and don’t like. He’s baked a variety of mini pies for the staff and some very healthy muffins for the players. Jack also knows that there is a second box of mini pies, filled with the players’ favourites in the back seat of his truck. The nutritionist has already told Bitty off numerous times about meal plans and proper nutrition especially during the season. 

“Jack, how early are we?” Bitty asks. The arena, despite its size, seems deserted. 

“Early enough to have some time on the ice before the others show up,” Jack smiles. “Go on, put your pies in George’s office and put your skates on.” Jack cheekily swats Bitty’s bum to edge him along before making his way towards the locker room to lace up his own skates. 

Jack isn’t in the locker rooms any more by the time Bitty gets there and he finds him all ready leisurely lapping the ice. Bitty takes a moment to soak it all in; the sun is probably rising outside, and he can almost picture how it would look if there were windows overlooking the ice, the cool air is making its way through his thickest Falconer’s hoodie, how he’s progressively feeling less and less tired as the caffeine from his Christmas specialty drink from Starbucks that he made Jack stop for (in return to getting up at such an ungodly hour) finally kicks in. It all feels so similar, yet it’s so different. 

He steps onto the ice, right foot first, as always, and pushes off. He laps, skating slowly, easing back into the feel, enjoying the stretch and contraction of his leg muscles, smiling at the familiar sound of his blades scraping across the ice. As his body temperature starts to rise, he speeds up, and then speeds up more. Until then, Jack and him had been keeping pace, almost at equal distances across the ice. But as Bitty sped up he lapped Jack once. This made Jack pick up his own speed, until they were match up across from each other once more. Bitty smirked, he knew Jack was competitive; he wouldn’t back down from this, but Bitty also knew that even though he wasn’t an NHL played himself, he was fast. More specifically, he was faster than Jack. So he sped up again and lapped Jack again. He could hear Jack chuckle as he passed him and he knew it was on. Jack was gaining on him and soon enough they were sprinting around the ice, Jack on Bitty’s tail but never quite catching up, while Bitty laughed aloud; the sound bouncing across the large arena. 

It didn’t take for Jack to slow his speed and turn to skate backwards so that when Bitty caught up again he’d be facing him. 

“It’s supposed to be my day off,” he accused. “I wasn’t expecting to do cardio.” 

“Then you should learn not to propose a challenge that you can’t win, Mr. Zimmermann,” Bitty chirped passing him one more time before finally slowing his own speed down. He stopped, leaning over to retie the lace on his left boot, which looked like it was about to come undone. When he stood back up though, he realized what a big mistake he had made. He was right up against the boards and Jack was skating right towards him. 

“No,” Bitty whined. “No, no, no, no, no.” He squeezed his eyes shut and braced himself to be shoved into the boards. It never came though, not in the way he expected. First, he heard Jack’s skates brake and then felt Jack’s hands at his hips, pushing him gently backwards until his back was touching the boards. When he peeked through his eyelids he found Jack smirking. 

“Come on,” he chirped, leaning in closer. “This is fun; like old times.” Bitty didn’t get a chance to reply before his husband’s lips were pressing down on his own. He hummed into the kiss, trying to lean up as high as he could without causing his feet to slip away from him on the ice. His hands slid up to Jack’s shoulders, which he wrapped his arms around to tug Jack a little lower so that he didn’t have to reach so high. 

“I don’t remember us doing this back in college,” Bitty chirps gently as they pull away. “If so, I probably would have been more enthusiastic about getting up so early for our practices.” 

Jack let out a laugh, reaching out for Bitty’s hands and tugging him along so that they could get in a couple more laps before people started showing up. 

The schedule consisted of spending the morning with a local co-ed team for kids around the age of five and then a team of preteen boys in the afternoon. The Falconers were currently greeting the young ones as Bitty helped set up the things on the ice for the various drills and things they were going to run with them. He was talking to Georgia by the players’ bench when the players themselves came onto the ice. Bitty isn’t sure that there’s anything he loves more than babies in skates. Granted, these kids were far from being babies, but still. Look at those tiny skates! Look at them wobbling around the ice! How does that not make you want to squeal? 

He was about to skate over to see what he could help with when he saw Jack out of the corner of his eye. He’d been about to step out onto the ice too when he paused, catching sight of a little boy, clutching his mother’s hand, shaking his head. Jack’s brows furrowed in confusion and he turned away from the ice and strode over to the pair. He exchanged a couple of words with the mother before crouching down to the boy’s eyelevel. The boy watched attentively as Jack spoke and then gave a little shrug. It made Jack smile before standing up and holding out a hand to the kid. He led him over to the ice, and took note of the increasing panic in the little boy’s expression. Without hesitation Jack scooped the child up, balancing him on his hip before stepping onto the ice and gliding over to where the group was about to start warm ups. 

“Bitty!” Eric’s attention was dragged away from his husband and directed towards Matthew Caporusso. “Long time no see!” 

“Hi Caps, how are you?” he grinned up at the taller man. Jack had gotten close to Matthew his rookie year and ended up bunking with him a lot of roadies. The bond had only grown stronger over the years, especially since Bitty and Matt’s wife, Sara, got along like two peas in a pod. 

“Can’t complain,” he shrugged, before leaning in close to whisper conspiratorially into Bitty’s ear. “I hear there are goods in Zimmboni’s trunk?” 

“Well, I won’t lie,” Bitty smirked. “There are definitely some good things in that trunk.” He shot a glance over at Jack before turning back to Caps who was now blushing, suddenly realizing the double entendre of his words. “But, what I want to know is if you and I will have a problem about that? Should I mention to Sara that I have concerns about you making a move on my husband? Or were you referring to the possible cherry mini pies that I have stashed in the back of his truck?” he chirped. 

“We all know that your husband has a glorious ass Bittle, but you and I both know I’m only friends with him for your pies,” Matthew chirped back. 

“I heard that Capurosso,”” both men jumped as a sea of kids skated passed them, with Jack coming up the rear, still holding the little boy in his arms. 

“Love you too, bro!” Matt called after him with a chuckle. “Well, I should probably get to work. But about those pies….?” 

“Meet us in the parking lot later,” 

Caps eyes narrowed at the little blond man. “That sounds ominous…” 

“Might be,” Bitty shrugged, finally pushing off the boards. “Depends how many times I catch you staring at Jack’s _assets_ today,” he chirped before skating off to go join the group laughing as he left Caps to struggle with catching up with him. 

As their time with the toddlers came to an end, Caps skated back up to Bitty. 

“You know, when we first did one of these with your man, I thought he was going to be so awkward with the kids, turns out he can talk to a child better than he can talk to an adult,” Matthew laughed. 

“He did coach peewee hockey,” Bitty pointed out. 

“Guess he’s just better with tiny size humans, you should know,” Caps nudged the blonde’s shoulder. 

“I am average height!” Bits gasped. 

“Not what I was referring to, but that was a solid chirp. I’m gonna use that!” And with that being said, Matthew skated away to say goodbye to the little kids. Eric made his way towards Jack, his blush finally subsiding. He came into earshot just as Jack asked the kid if he wanted to try to score a goal on Snowy. After he accepted, Jack bracketed the kid between his knees and grasped the tiny stick and together they skated towards the net with Jack narrating their actions; forehand, backhand, now shoot! The boy, whose jersey read Hanson, squealed with joy as the puck easily slid past Snowy. Jack joined in, offering the kid a high five. The pair then skated off the ice to go join Mrs. Hanson. 

With a smile on his lips, Bitty helped the crew set up for the afternoon team before they all braked for lunch. 

“That was nice, what you did for the Hanson boy this morning,” Bitty commented later that afternoon. They were seated on the tailgate of the truck, Jack’s teammates had just raided it for pies and now the couple was eating whatever was left over. 

Jack shrugged as he swallowed a mouthful of cherry pie (which he’d successfully stolen from Matthew by childishly licking it) before speaking. “I wasn’t going to let him miss out on the opportunity just because he was scared to get back out on the ice ‘cause of a bad fall last week.” 

“Once a captain always a captain,” Bits teased, recalling that Jack had done pretty much the same thing for him so that he wouldn’t get kicked off the team his second year at Samwell; doing everything in his power to make sure that everyone could succeed. “You’re good with kids.” 

“I like kids; they’re easy. They’re so full of joy and innocence. They don’t ask intrusive questions, or judge you, or make false accusations. They don’t have overly high expectations of you either, you just gotta show up and make it fun. Those kids I coached before Samwell really taught me to love the sport again.” 

It’s then that Bitty realizes what Caps had meant about him knowing about Jack’s feelings about kids; and truth be told, he didn’t. He figures that now is as good a time as any to bring it up, besides, they are married; they should be able to talk about this. 

“Do you… um, do you want kids?” Bitty asked, busying himself with choosing another mini pie; as if the decision between blueberry and cranberry-apple were really that hard. 

“Most of the time I do…but then the anxiety kicks in and I realize that I don’t want to burden them with my last name…” 

Bitty let out a laugh. “You’re very funny if you think I’m not going to at least force you to hyphen my name in there somewhere,” he chirped. He abandoned his pie quest and instead settled with lacing his fingers with Jack’s. “If you don’t want them to have your last name, they don’t have to; don’t let that stop you from becoming a dad. And even if they did take your name, honey, I don’t believe for a second that you would let them go through the same thing as you. I think you would to _everything_ in your power to make sure that they know that they’re loved and that you’re proud of them no matter what. Do you blame your dad for giving you his name?” 

“No, of course not; it’s…everyone else,” Jack sighed. 

“Well there you go. You can’t control other people, but you also can’t let them get in the way of what you want. If you want to be a dad, then you be the best dad ever. Besides, who’s to say our kid would even be into hockey anyway.” That made Jack chuckle softly. 

“What about you?” he asked softly. “You wanna be a dad?” 

“Yeah.” Eric smiled and Jack smiled back and that was how they decided that they were going to become parents. 

It was the first conversation of many, but they finally decided that rather than adopt, or do that thing where they mixed sperm and chance decided who would become the biological father, they decided themselves that it would be Bitty. It made Jack a lot more comfortable, and this way, a couple years down the line if he felt up to it, they could do it all again and have a kid that would be Jack’s biologically. They both liked the idea of giving their parents biological grandchildren, and being able to pass on their own genes – for the most part. But for now they found themselves an egg donner and a surrogate and that’s how, the following year, little Miss Daisy Anne Bittle-Zimmermann came to be. 

She arrived a month before her due-date, causing Jenna to go into labor during a Falconer’s playoff game, during which they beat the Bruins 3-1. Bitty knew because they had the game on in the waiting room as he paced around, clutching his phone in his hand. He’d already called his parents, and Jack’s parents. He’d also called their friends, and Jack’s phone (not that he was going to answer, but it was something for him to do while he waited), as well as George so that Jack would skip press and get his beautiful hockey butt over here. Thank goodness it was a home game, and as soon as Jack rushed into the waiting room, hair still damp, tie half undone, and sans jacket, the doctor stepped out into the room and asked if they wanted to meet their daughter. 

Both men had stared at him blankly for a moment. This was it. They had a baby girl. They were dads now. It was going to take a while for that to set in. When they snapped out of it, they followed the doctor in, signed the birth certificate, and finally got to hold her. While Bitty was rocking her and thanking Jenna for the 100th time for doing this for them, Jack pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of his husband and their little girl. As much as he wanted to pour his heart and soul into the caption, he sufficed with typing out the glorious pun ‘#Zimmerfam’, which he was quite proud of even though it would earn him merciless chirps from Eric. 

And that is the long version of how Eric Richard Bittle and Jack Laurent Zimmermann became parents.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translation for french can be found in the end notes!

Bitty was pulled from his slumber by the familiar sound of Daisy crying. He tried not to groan as he rolled over, blindly feeling around for the baby monitor on his bedside table. He knew that this would happen when they decided that they would have a baby, he knew that this is what he signed up for; his annoyance is more with the fact that their daughter is fussy because she’s sick. It makes his heart hurt to see his baby girl suffer when there’s nothing he can do about it. He had thought the worst was over when her fever finally broke a couple of hours ago and she’d finally fallen asleep, but it seems like he was wrong.

The cries quieted though, before he was even able to grasp the monitor. He could, however, still hear the distant cries from down the hall. He peeked through his eyelids to see Jack standing on his side of the bed, clad in a tank top and sweatpants, with the baby monitor in his hand. 

“Jack?” he asked his voice still rough from sleep. He cleared his throat and pushed himself up so that he was sitting. 

Jack shushed him as he put the monitor back on the bedside table. “Go back to sleep, you have to be up in a couple of hours. I’ll handle her,” he leaned down to press his lips to Bitty’s forehead, one of his large hands pushing gently at the other man’s shoulders to push him back towards the mattress. 

“Are you—“ Bitty was supposed to finish the sentence off with the word ‘sure’ but instead he was rudely interrupted by a yawn. It made Jack chuckle quietly. 

“Yes I’m sure,” he assured his husband. “Dors, mon coeur.” He pressed another kiss to Bitty’s forehead before slipping out of the room. 

Eric waited for sleep to take him once more, but it was too quiet now and the bed was too empty. He rolled over, reaching for the baby monitor, and turned it back on. He could hear his daughter’s quiet whimpers and Jack murmuring to her in French. 

“Ça va pas, ahn ma belle? J’te promets que ça va passer. Essaye de dormir un peu, ça va aider…” Bitty listened as Jack started humming a lullaby until he finally drifted back to sleep. 

He awoke a couple of hours later to the blaring alarm on his phone. He blindly turned it off and rolled over. He would cuddle Jack for the five minutes before his second alarm went off and _then_ he would get up. Much to his disappointment however, he found the other side of the bed completely empty and the sheets cold to the touch. Jack mustn’t have come back to bed. So much for that plan. 

With a groan, Bitty pushed himself up out of bed and turned off the four alarms he had set up. 

What? 

It was necessary. Even with a baby he had yet to successfully get up at 4 o’clock in the morning, and he definitely didn’t want to be late for today. His blog and his vlogs were getting more and more recognition and he’d been invited to a local morning talk show to do an interview and a baking segment. Just the thought made him buzz with excitement. All he needed to do was get dressed and get himself to the studio for 5 am. Once there, he had been promised that he would find all the necessary food and coffee while he would be going through makeup and wardrobe.

He pulled on a pair of comfortable shorts and a Samwell t-shirt before trudging down the hallway to Daisy’s nursery. He figured that’s where Jack would be, it wasn’t the first time that he’d fallen asleep in there. The first time, it had happened was a couple of weeks after she was born. He’d come home from a playoff match and decided to go check on her before heading to bed. Only instead, he’d also decided to sit down in the rocking chair and had ended up passing out while watching her sleep. 

Bitty stuck his head into the room and was surprised to find it just as empty as his bed had been. With a furrowed brow he made his way downstairs, maybe Jack and Daisy had yet to go back to sleep. The thought caused a pang in his gut; he wouldn’t really be in the mood to leave anymore if Daisy wasn’t out of the woods yet. The living room seemed empty, so he was about to head to the kitchen when he heard a soft hiccup. He peered over their blue couch and found his husband fast asleep with their daughter in a tiny Falconer’s onesie cradled to his chest. Bitty gently reached a hand over the back of the couch to feel her forehead. She didn’t seem to be running a fever anymore. 

He stayed for a moment, watching Jack’s chest rise and fall, and tried to gently smooth down Daisy’s cowlick. A glance in the direction to their stereo informed him that he needed to get going. He quickly snapped a picture of the scene with his phone and scurried to the kitchen to leave Jack a note next to the coffee machine. 

_I should be back by noon, love you both! xx_

He then made his way to the garage and off he went to the studio. His morning was absolutely wonderful, everyone was so nice and so bubbly, despite the ridiculous hour, and Bitty couldn’t help but imagine what it would be like if he were to have his own cooking show. It was definitely a fantasy he’d explored many times in the past, but being here made those ideas more vivid. He decided that he definitely wouldn’t do it this early in the morning. And if he didn’t have a choice, he’d have to pre-tape the episodes so that he wouldn’t have to wake up at 4 every morning. 

As he planned all of this, he nervously waited in the green room, pacing as he was too hyped up on nerves and lattes to sit one of the couches, and watched the beginning segments of the show. As they breaked for a commercial he pulled out his phone and smiled down at the picture he’d taken this morning. This was definitely Instagram worthy, he thought, as he pulled up the app. 

_Found them like this in the morning. Long night for both Papa and daughter :) <3 #Zimmerfamm_ he captioned it. 

_/\\_

Jack sighed with relief as he stepped into their air conditioned home. The heat was unbearable today and was he ever glad that he’d had to spend the morning in the cool arena. He walked through the house quietly, afraid that Daisy might still be down for her nap. 

“Bits?” he called out quietly, but got no answers. The living room and the kitchen were both deserted so Jack bounded up the stairs, taking them two at a time to get to the second story. He peaked into the master bedroom, the bathroom, and the nursery; all three came up empty. Eric’s car was in the garage and the stroller had been at the front door. Where could they be? 

He went back down to the kitchen, pulling out his phone and scrolling through his contacts to find his husband’s name. He was just about to dial the number when, out of the corner of his eye, he caught movement out of the back deck. 

Jack pulled open the sliding patio door and stepped outside. 

“I wondered where you were,” he smiled, closing the door behind him. “Isn’t it a little hot out here for the baby?” 

Bitty was lounging in the sun in nothing but a pair of obscenely short shorts while Daisy was lying on her back in her playpen, dressed in a colourful bathing suit. The large umbrella that was placed in the middle of their rustic looking picnic table was opened and was providing enough shade to cover the playpen. 

"Nonsense," Bitty scoffed, pushing his sunglasses up onto the top of his head so that he could see Jack properly. "It's not that warm out, but she is in the shade and we played in the sprinkler earlier, didn't we Daisy?" he turned to glance at their daughter only to notice that she'd fallen asleep. "Well, we did," he chuckled, turning his attention back to Jack. "How was your meeting with George?" 

This made Jack let out a long sigh as he ran a hand through his hair. 

Bitty sat up promptly, expression aghast. "You're not telling me that they're not renewing your contract?! You've been playing with them for four years! During which the team has won two Stanley Cups! You're their captain! I cannot believe that they wouldn't renew your contract after everything you've done for them--" 

"Bits," Jack tried to interject. 

"If Georgia thinks I'm still going to bake a pie for her fourth of July party she has another thing coming..." 

"Bittle!" Jack had to use his captain's voice to successfully make Bitty stop talking. "Will you let me tell you what happened or are you going to blacklist the whole team without a second thought?" 

Jack couldn't tell if his red cheeks were a result from sitting in the sun, or if his husband was blushing. 

"Sorry," Eric mumbled. "Go on." 

"Because of my age, and because my contract is now up, I'm now a free agent. Georgia is willing to renew my contract if that's what I want... but there are also other offers on the table. George said that they do have plans to take the team in another direction and that there would be no hard feelings if I chose play for another team..." 

"Did you make a decision?" Eric asked gently. He reached out to grasp one of Jack's hands and to tug him down to sit on the foot of his chaise longue. Jack's hands weren't shaking, but that didn't mean that they wouldn't soon. It was likely given the way that Jack's Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed what was probably a lump forming in his throat. 

Jack shook his head. "No, I told her I wanted to talk to you... Talk to my dad..." He took a large breath and let it out slowly. He glanced down at his lap, where their hands lay intertwined, and squeezed Eric's gently. "Bits the Habs want me." 

"Is that something you want?" Bitty asked cautiously. He knew how much Jack despised being compared to his father, and accepting this offer would inevitably bring that on. However, before signing for the Falconers, when they were back at college and living in the Haus, Bitty could distinctly remember Jack watching and rooting for the Habs every time they played. It was no secret that the boy was a fan of his hometown team. And Bitty could tell that there was a glimmer of hope and excitement hidden within the anxiety in Jack's facial expression.

"I...I don't know..." Jack admitted. "It's a substantial pay raise than what I'm earning now, and it's the _Habs_ , but it would mean we'd have to move. And Montreal is great, but it'd be so much paper work because it's a different country, and we'd have to uproot our life here, and we have a daughter that's barely over a month old, and you have a job and..."

"Honey, slow down." Bitty scooted closer to Jack and pulled himself into his lap. He rubbed Jack's shoulders comfortingly. "None of that matters, especially not if this is something that you _want_."

Jack reached out, wrapping his hands around Bitty's hips as a way to ground himself. "I don't want you to give up everything you have here just to follow me; that's not fair," he said, looking up at Bitty. 

"Sweetheart, I work in a bakery as a co-manager, now, because I want to work fewer hours and spend more time at home with our daughter. It's a great job, but it's hardly a dream job. I'm sure I can find another bakery in Montreal. My French may be a little rusty, but I'm sure you'll help me practice," Bitty pointed out. 

"What about that interview a couple of weeks ago? You're really making a name for yourself out here Bits." 

Eric laughed. "Oh, honey, you watched that interview. They wanted me there more to answer questions about our relationship than about my baking vlogs." 

"Yeah, but-"

"No buts," Bitty interrupted, pressing his index to Jack's lips. "Jack do you really want this?" 

The brunet chewed on his bottom lip as he pondered the question. His only response came in the form of a shrug. 

"Let's list some pros rather than cons, okay?" Bitty suggested. "You already said pay raise," he said starting to tick off his fingers one by one. "We'll be closer to your parents which I'm sure they would adore, not mentioning that it would mean that we'd have extra help with Daisy."

"We'd be moving farther from yours," Jack pointed out regretfully. 

"Honey, my parents know I'll probably never move back Georgia. No matter if we live here or a little farther north they'll have to travel. It's no big deal, I have practice staying in touch and I know they'll understand," Eric reassured him, although it didn't do much to remove the frown on Jack's lips. "Also," Bitty continued, "if we wait to do this in a couple of years, Daisy will have started school or she'll have made friends, and then a big move will be harder. Now is the ideal time." He paused as he searched for some more pros, giving time for this to sink in with Jack. "And…If we move...I could maybe put off finding a job? I'd have more time for vlogs and I could start working on that cookbook that I keep thinking about..." 

Jack's brows furrowed. "You want to write a cookbook?" This was the first he was hearing about the idea. 

It's Bitty's turn to shrug. "Just an idea I've been toying with... I mean, I have all these recipes in my head, or in my vlogs, or scribbled in notebooks and scraps of paper, I just figured I should put them all together. Then, I started thinking about what it would be like if I could get that published... And if it doesn't, well at least I have everything in one place, and I could pass it onto Daisy when she's old enough..." He bit his lip, trailing off with a shrug, trying to seem nonchalant. 

A smile tugged at Jack's lips as he rubbed gentle circles into Bitty's hips with his thumbs. "I think that's a great idea," he told his husband and the smile he got in return was just as bright as if he were to tilt his head up and stare into the sun. 

_/\\_

Obviously it wasn't as easy as that. Jack had many other discussions with his husband, his father, his uncles, his agent, and his lawyer. There were papers to fill out and contracts to sign and houses to look at, not to mention a newborn to care for. It was a very, very busy summer for the Bittle-Zimmermann household to say the least. 

They did manage to get it done, with the help of a lot of people, and with quite a few hiccups, but done nonetheless. 

"Bitty?" Jack called, dropping his gear by the door. He'd spent the day at the training centre with the team and he was exhausted. Not to mention that the sight of boxes everywhere meant that the delivery people had finally showed up with their stuff, which meant more exhaustion from unpacking was in the near future. 

Thank goodness they'd decided to leave most of their furniture from their Providence home behind, or had given it away, and had bought new stuff when they'd moved. It meant that they'd had beds to sleep on, tables to eat at, and couches for sitting when they'd arrived at the house and the rest of their belongings hadn't.

"Kitchen," Eric called back. Jack should have known better, why bother asking? 

Jack toed off his shoes and made his way into the kitchen. 

"Hi honey," Bitty grinned, leaning up to press a quick peck to Jack's jaw as he grabbed the bowl of filling from the counter to start filling up the mini pie crusts. "How was practice?" 

"Exhausting," Jack muttered, taking in the open, but still mostly full boxes scattered around the large kitchen. He opted to ignore them and instead, he pulled Daisy out of her high chair and cradled her to his chest, cooing down at her gently. "I have to choose a new jersey number, since number one is retired," he said as he leaned against the counter. "It'll be weird, changing it after all these years..." 

Bitty hummed, agreeing. "For us watching especially." 

"Maybe not so much for you..." Jack said, glancing up from the baby with a smile. 

"Oh? Why's that?"

"I was thinking of taking number fifteen." Bitty's spoon clattered into the bowl and he turned to face Jack. "That's, if it's okay with you," the taller man added. 

"Don't be ridiculous! I don't own the number; of course you can use it!" He stared up at his husband with what Shitty called his heart-eyes expression. "Jack, I'd be honoured if you wore my number." 

“Good, cause they actually gave me the jerseys today, I chose the number when signing contracts.” 

“And what would you have done if I’d have said no?” 

Jack shrugs, stepping over to rest his chin on Bitty’s shoulder to watch him cover the mini pies with the top parts of the crust. No lattice today. 

“Then this would an awkward conversation,” Jack chuckled. He let out a soft sigh, letting his eyelids flutter close. “Can we order in? I don’t have the energy to make dinner, or unpack anything,” he murmured quietly. 

“Way ahead of you, delivery should arrive any second. This was just to keep busy till it arrived. You’ll be proud, I ordered mostly in French,” Bitty grins up as he wipes his hands on his apron after finishing up the last pie. 

“In other words we have no idea what kind of food we’re getting.” 

“Mister Zimmermann, don’t you dare chirp me or I’ll –“ 

Luckily it was at that moment that the delivery person rang their doorbell, saving Jack from any threat that was about to come his way. 

_/\\_

It was a year of firsts for the Bittle-Zimmermann family; first year with the Habs, first year living in Montreal, first cookbook, first smile, first clap, first crawl, first step, and of course first word. 

It was a total fluke that it happened when it did, too. The old Samwell Men’s Hockey Team was visiting, and even though Jack could have gotten them all tickets to the first eastern conference final game they were watching, Bitty didn’t think that Daisy was ready for her first full hockey game yet. (And Bitty definitely wasn’t ready to leave his almost one year old baby with a sitter.) So they were all gathered in the living room, sprawled across the couches and the floor, the scene a pleasant throw back to their college days. 

Daisy should have been in bed ages ago, but it seemed like she didn’t want to sleep while her uncles, aunt, and dad had all the fun downstairs. Bitty had given up trying to sooth her soft cries and had caved, bringing her downstairs to join the party. 

When the first goal of the night was scored, the room erupted into cheers and guttural yells, accompanied by high fives and chest bumps. A tiny high pitched scream joined in too, just a couple of seconds to late. 

And then it happened. 

The next time the Habs conglomerated around the Pens’ net, Daisy raised her little arms in triumph and squealed ‘Goal?’ (In hindsight it was probably more of a ‘go’, but everyone in the room knew exactly what she’d meant.) 

Unfortunately, the puck at been stopped. 

“Sorry pumpkin, no goal. Save,” Shitty pouted down at her, where she was sitting in his lap. 

She let out a disappointed ‘aww’ sound as she dropped her arms. 

Shitty was the first of the un-phased men to notice that Bitty had stopped paying attention to the game and was still staring at his daughter with a gaping mouth. 

“Bits? You with us man?” he asked, reaching out to nudge him gently. “That wasn’t her first word or anything was it?... Oh shit, it was! BITS!” 

The entire room burst into cheers once more and Daisy was definitely enjoying being passed around to everyone, completely oblivious as to why she was now the center of attention. 

Rather than pay close attention to the Habs winning the game, they paid closer attention to the toddler with all of their phones out. Thankfully, there were many other opportunities to catch her excitedly encouraging each goal scored by her father’s team as they one game one. 

When Jack joined them later that night, he couldn’t be more proud of the news. 

_/\\_ 

The Habs didn’t win the cup that year; they got eliminated in overtime in game 7 of the eastern conference finals against the Pens. But it’s okay. Jack was made Captain for the next season, and Daisy’s forced to celebrate her second birthday a couple of weeks late in order to have her Papa there. But that’s okay too, because the whole town throws a parade and everyone takes her picture while she sits in some metal thing. She loves all the attention. 

Things are great. The three of them are happy and healthy and successful and loved. Jack thinks this is it; he’s finally made it. Until he realizes that there’s something missing. 

 

Daisy had turned five that spring. Jack had just led the Habs to wining another cup; his name will be engraved on it for the fourth time. He should be ecstatic, he thinks to himself as he lies in bed, wide awake. But something is missing. 

He didn’t feel it when he woke up this morning. He didn’t feel it as he hoisted the Stanley Cup over his head and skated across the ice at the Bell Center towards his teammates. He supposes it could have started when he posed with Daisy and the cup; helping her hoist it over her head seeing as she’d gotten too big to sit in it. She was growing up. His baby girl was growing up. 

And then Soupy is skating down the ice and plopping his daughter into the top of the Cup for a photo. 

And Jack…Jack wants that again. 

“Bits,” he whispered. His husband didn’t budge. Jack rolled onto his side and slipped a hand around the man’s waist, pulling him into his chest. “Bitty,” he tried again, whispering directly into his ear this time. 

“Mhm, no,” the blond mumbled in his sleep. “No checking practice; gotta…gotta buy more butter.” 

Jack chuckled, burying his face into the back of Eric’s neck, pressing gentle kisses there. “No checking, I promise. But you gotta wake up.” 

Bitty rolled over so that he was facing Jack. He rubbed his eyes sleepily. “What’s wrong?” he yawned, hiding his face in Jack’s t-shirt. “Is Daisy okay?” 

“Oui, mon amour,” Jack assured him. “Everything’s fine, I promise.” 

“Then why are you waking me up,” it comes out as a whine. 

“I just…” Jack realized this probably could have waited till morning. “Do you want another baby?” 

That gets Bitty’s attention. He propped himself up on one of his elbows and reached over to turn on a bedside lamp to see Jack’s face properly as he peered down at him. 

“Where’s this idea coming from, sweetheart?” Bitty asked, in lieu of answering. 

Jack sighed. “Daisy’s growing up and we’re not getting any younger either, and then Campbell had his kid there today and I just, I dunno… I want another baby. If that’s what you want too of course –“ 

Jack doesn’t get to finish his sentence before Bitty rolls on top of him and presses their lips together. 

“Yeah,” he breathed into Jack’s mouth moments later as he tugged at the drawstring of his husband’s sweatpants. “Let’s have another baby.” 

Jack let out a chuckle, wiggling his hips and kicking off his pants before rolling them over so that he can hover over Eric. 

“You know this isn’t how that works, right?” he replied. Bitty can feel him smirking against his neck as he sucks at the skin and muscle there. 

“Mister Zimmermann, if you even think that chirping me in bed will lead to anything other than you sleeping on the couch,” Bitty threatened as Jack trailed his kisses lower and lower, “you have another thing coming –“ 

The threats are empty, of course, as Bitty’s fingers tangle into Jack’s dark locks and he arches his back off of the mattress, trying not to moan so loudly that it’ll wake up their first born. 

_/\\_ 

“This is off topic,” one of the reporters said, standing up in the room during press. “But Jack, we heard that there were complications with the birth of second child. Is everything okay?” 

Jack’s lips can’t help but twitch at the corner. “Yeah, yeah, he’s great now. They kept him at the hospital for a couple days, but he’s finally at home.”

“Did you and your husband finally settle on a name?” she asked. That makes Jack laugh for real. Apparently it was very entertaining for everyone else that Jack and Bitty hadn’t been able to decide on a name for their newborn, and that they would squabble and chirp each other relentlessly whenever the topic came up. 

“Yeah, we actually managed to name him,” there was going to be a press release about it, once the boy was finally settled at home now that he was out of the woods. Jack didn’t see the problem with spoiling this small detail ahead of time. “His name is Myles.” 

More specifically, Myles David Bittle-Zimmermann; born January 22nd. They went through the same process as they did with Daisy, except this time, Jack was the biological father. He wanted this, he was ready. It was what he was missing. 

He went home that night and found his husband passed out on their king sized bed, cradling their son against his chest, his second arm wrapped around their daughter’s shoulders. Jack leaned against the doorframe, taking it all in before risking waking one of them up as he moved into the room. 

They were happy and healthy and successful and loved; all _four_ of them. 

And that’s how Eric Richard Bittle and Jack Laurent Zimmerman became parents. For the second time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY POSTED. This was not betaed, sorry for any mistakes. 
> 
> Scenes from this chapter include inspiration from [this post](http://dadbobzimmermann.tumblr.com/post/141866184678/jack-and-bittys-daughter-passed-out-on-jacks)and [this post](http://des-zimbits.tumblr.com/post/144015962956/omfg-edmonton-i-did-child-care-for-a-toddler) over on tumblr. :) 
> 
> Also this photo too:  
> 
> 
> You can also follow me on tumblr [here](http://monsieurjacksdad.tumblr.com/) if you want :D 
> 
> **Translations**  
>  _Dors, mon coeur_ = Sleep, my love. (N.B. the literal translation for coeur is heart)   
> _Ça va pas, ahn ma belle? J’te promets que ça va passer. Essaye de dormir un peu, ça va aider…_ = You're not doing so well, eh beautiful? I promise it'll pass. Try to sleep a little, it'll help.   
> _Oui, mon amour_ = Yes, my love.

**Author's Note:**

> So, this was supposed to be a cute, short one shot, but I realized that it was going to be so much longer than what when I got halfway through and was already at 7K. So, there should be a second chapter arriving soon! 
> 
> Also! I've made myself a side blog for writing and such so feel free to follow and message me [here](http://monsieurjacksdad.tumblr.com/). I want to write more over the summer, so feel free to send in requests or asks or headcanons :) 
> 
> Finally, I apologize if I wasn't able to catch all the typos! Feel free to let me know if there are any mistakes. 
> 
> Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it! :)


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